Madam Escaped Again, Sir (Lillian Hawkins and Eric Walker) novel Chapter 109

The attendees immediately straightened their postures and paid attention to Asher, who started to share stories from his business trips abroad.

When he was done speaking, he instantly shifted the topic to Sonia. “I heard about the problems that surfaced during my absence in the company. Sonia has managed everything well on my behalf. Good job!”

On his behalf? She winced at his description but soon broke into a smile. “President Dafoe, please drop the formalities. After all, I am the largest shareholder in this company and as the vice president, I have the responsibility to manage the company. All the blood, sweat and tears are part and parcel of the job.”

Upon hearing that, Asher’s lips twitched as he simmered in anger. This young lady is a tough nut to crack indeed.

He refused to believe that she was oblivious to the subtext of his words—that he was back to reclaim his power to manage the company.

“Oh, is that so? Sonia, you are quite the sensible and mature young lady! Anyway, now that I’m back, you can take a back seat and relax.” Asher stared at Sonia with a fake smile.

A smiling Sonia looked straight into his eyes. “That’s fine! I am still young and I have no problem taking on some challenges. President Dafoe, you have nothing to worry about.”

Asher’s expression immediately fell after he heard her courageous reply.

At the same time, members of the senior management and other shareholders lowered their heads and held their tongues, for they were surprised at Sonia’s guts to publicly wrestle with Asher Dafoe for power. Should we describe her as courageous or hopelessly naive?

Even Charles was stunned by her bold move.

Although he personally thought that she had recklessly started a power struggle at the wrong time, he chose to stand by her side regardless of whether she made the right decision out of his love for her.

“Baby, all the best!” He punched the air with his two fists to cheer her on. After being stupefied by his actions, Sonia fired back at him, “Oh, shut up.

Charles giggled and promptly fell silent.

When Asher saw Sonia flirting in the middle of the tense situation, his eyes widened in anger at her insolence. “Young lady, are you being serious right now?”

She smiled. “Of course I am! As the largest shareholder and the vice president of the company, it would be bad not to have any decision-making powers. That is why I request to share the leadership with you!”

Deep down in her heart, she knew very well that she could not win against Asher. After all, he had been managing the company for years and the majority of the senior management as well as the shareholders were on his side.

Still, Sonia could not bring herself to surrender her power to Asher. Therefore, she came to the secret decision that even if she could not safeguard all her power, she had to at least keep half of it.

The intensity of Asher’s anger gradually transformed into hilarity and bewilderment as he cackled, “Wow, the younger generation nowadays is truly ambitious. Why have I not seen that side of you before?”

Sonia flicked her hair before she answered calmly, “That’s because I was living under my dad’s protection. Now that he’s no longer around, I have to stand up and carry the weight on my own. If he were alive, he would have been elated for me. Don’t you think so?”

He tightened his fists and hid the malice in his eyes as he replied through gritted teeth, “You are right.” This young lady is really something! She brings up Henry to attack me and remind me that I was one of Henry’s mentees, which means I would be an ingrate to mistreat his daughter!

Too bad Henry was unable to retort, for if he did, Asher would be seen as an ingrate and public opinion would swiftly turn against him.

Plus, it was the cold, hard truth that Asher did not hold as many shares as Sonia. If the share prices were affected by public opinion, the shareholders would definitely pin the blame on him. He could almost foresee the domino effect —the bunch of them would call for a shareholders’ meeting to reelect the company’s president, which would send his years of management down the drain.

At the thought of it, his chest rose violently, but he restrained his explosive rage and stared at her. “Sonia, you are indeed Henry’s daughter! Sure, I can share the leadership with you, but...”

Sonia’s gaze wavered at the abrupt turn in his sentence. “Please continue, President Dafoe.”

She knew it. He would not share the power without putting up a fight. Of course he would set a trap for her to fall into.

Asher picked up a document beside him. “This is a proposal for a partnership on an alternative energy technology. It took me a lot of effort to gain a seat at the meeting for this proposal. The partner who conceived the idea plans to have five partners onboard. As long as you can secure a seat in this partnership for Paradigm Co., I will share the leadership with you.”

After a pause, he introduced the grim consequences of failure, “If you can’t secure a place, you have to surrender your leadership and leave Paradigm Co. as just another shareholder. Of course, if you fail in your mission but insist on taking the leadership from me, please do not blame me for taking things to the extreme and ruining the company. Sonia, what do you think?”